What befell Paul during his travels in this wide world... Reply? PaulBackhurst97@gmail.com

 
The Media Is The Massage

However discouraging it is to see how little dissent makes it into the Nightly News and other media, it’s still a real joy to read a newspaper like the New York Times. Sure there’s the editorial viewpoint (most often noticeable in the headlines) and “correct” spin that up-and-coming sycophantic reporters give their pieces, but there are also in-depth articles by reporters of real integrity and courage. There are also amazing feature stories, which whatever passes for regional newspapers these days cannot duplicate, taking the words necessary to storytell around our world, often accompanied by beautiful color photographs by our best photojournalists. I can understand why Garcia Marquez, who began his incomparable novelistic career as a journalist, returned to Bogotá to purchase a newspaper. Truth is stranger…

Since the bombing of Afghanistan began—about a month ago—there has been a distinct increase in propagandistic, non-informative coverage, both overseas and at home. Yet, in spite of Pentagon attempts to limit awareness—they’ve purchased rights to all commercial satellite imaging of Afghanistan—dissenters featured in European media do receive some mention in the NYT. TV is a tougher medium for conveying an unpopular message (as Chomsky has pointed out) but dissenting celebrities have broken through: Donohue has appeared on O’Donnell, the wonderful Arundhati [see below] was on Nightline, and Sarandon will appear Saturday on Larry King Live.

That the U.S. is a different place now than before September 11 is already something of a chestnut, but, bombing a third-world Islamic country, which even our “experts” seem to know very little about, every day killing many innocent noncombatants with the indiscriminant “Daisy-Cutter,” can’t do anything to restore lives tragically lost in New York and DC, or reduce the level of terrorism in the world. Those of us who believe this need to directly question the logic that says bombing is the necessary redress for our national trauma. The Justice Department is being placed on a “war footing” and Bush wants us to volunteer (as if this were WWII), but the tall, white Stetson hat simply no longer fits us.

At U.S. customs on my return from Amsterdam, the officer, after inspecting my passport and declaration, said, “Welcome home.” First I felt a warm feeling of brotherhood—as close as I can approximate patriotism. But I’d been in Amsterdam, a European city where I felt very welcome as a progressive gay man; it wouldn’t be difficult to be an expatriate there. In the new domestic atmosphere where terms like “homeland” are the currency, I experience the officer’s greeting differently—there’s a bunker mentality with a tide of xenophobia rising; resist it.

posted by Paul at 11:45 AM

 
Well Beyond the Beltway

This weblog is beginning to suggest that the only reason I’m Sore Beset is September 11 and its aftermath. Yet the economic downturn that lent a plausible cover for my layoff began well before the “terrorist attacks.” Still, for a member of the ‘70s generation to witness recent events in light of lived-through history, which as niggardly dispensed by the media has been sanitized beyond all recognition, does (temporarily?) consign much personal joy and trauma to the proverbial dustbin. (I’ll try to diversify my offering, making it a bit upbeat by the end.)

This past Sunday’s NYT had an article in its topical supplement, “A Nation Challenged,” reviewing worldwide opinion about the Afghan war now that the U.S. is resorting to indiscriminate carpet bombing—radically tilling or re-featuring the landscape. The strong coalition to get Bin Laden may be unraveling now that the corpses of women, children and sick persons are being shown on Al Jazeera, if not on CNN. If shown here, American television media have reached consensus with Condeleezza Rice to append a statement reminding viewers that Al Qaeda, the alleged organization behind September 11, bears responsibility for all future “collateral damage.” Surprisingly enough, the NYT review of worldwide opinion quoted George Monbiot in The Guardian (London), whose Backyard Terrorism article brings it all back home. If, after reading this interesting piece on the School of the Americas you’re hungry for a bit more, check out Claudio Solano’s letter, which adds his personal memory from a Brazilian experience.

Let’s segue into a little samba—or forró. If you liked the Brazilian film Me You Them (Eu Tu Eles), which grafted a modest human story of a sexual ménage among poor Nordestinos to a stellar musical score from Gilberto Gil, try to see Cesar Paes’s documentary of sertanejo musicians transplanted to São Paulo, Saudade do Futuro. With a musical tradition little changed since the great Luis Gonzaga, street singers improvise satiric and ribald lyrics to eek out a meager living while greatly enriching the listener (or viewer). [Particularly if you understand Portuguese, you might be interested in purchasing the CD.] Recommended.

posted by Paul at 2:27 PM